Expert: Walter Hintz - 9/12/2005

Question
Ok well i have a few questions im am just plain stuck on...

20.  Write the basic chemical formulas for carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins.

19.  Identify the major protein shapes/structures.
          (I dont understand what she wants me to do on this one)

16.  Draw the structural formula of an amino acid. (i think that This might be NH2 because isnt amino the same as amine?)

11.  Name the building blocks of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins. In other words, explain which elements each contain, if the elements are in a specific ratio, and if any of the three contain special functional groups.(Im just plain stumped on this baby)

Thanks in advance..

Mike~

Answer
20. There are many different compounds here so there is no way I can write all these formuli but the basic formuli for a carb is  (CH2O)x  This means that carbs are made up only of C, H, and OO in approximatl a 1:2:1
   Lipids consist of C,H,and O with a 1:1 C to H with low O   A simple example of a lipid is stearin which is C57H112O6
    Proteins consist of C,H,O, and Nitrogen with no definite ratios.  They are made up of amino acids.  Every amino acid consists of an amine group (NH2) a methyl group (CH3) and a carboxyl (COOH).
  19. There are four major protein shapes/structures.
      The primary structure is the sequence of amino acids
     The secondary structure involves two chains of amino acids and how they are bonded with H
     The tertiary structure involves side chains
     The quarternary structure involves interactions between chains.

 16 I cannot draw a structure on a computer

 11.  I have answered this in number 20